


Take Me Home-- Where's That?

by gomicchi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Aged up characters, Angst, Bondage mention, Complicated Relationships, Drunkenness, Language, M/M, Pining, Protectiveness, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 12:56:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4788014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gomicchi/pseuds/gomicchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jounouchi’s willing to risk being the absolute worst wingman on the planet if it means sparing Yuugi another regrettable one night stand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Home-- Where's That?

Heads turn from every direction (nothing new about that), whispers fade in and out of earshot as they make their way to the bar (the same chorus of ‘king’ and ‘legend’ and whatever else they’ve picked up from the networks). Jounouchi all but looms over Yuugi as they weave through the early evening crowd, most of whom are already tipsy. After all, as Yuugi had observed sagely on their way in, it was Friday. Maybe that’s what had Jounouchi so tense? The end of a long week and the start of an even longer weekend.

 

“Are you getting something, Jou-kun?” Yuugi looks up at Jounouchi- cheeks pink, eyes bright in the dim light. Yup. A really long, _long_ weekend. Better get something strong.

 

“Just uh-,” Jounouchi scans the cramped room, the tiny dance floor, the exits, the hall to the bathrooms, “-coke. Just a coke.”

 

Warmth spreads over Jounouchi’s forearm as Yuugi rests a small hand over his thin sleeve. Stout, round fingers follow up with reassuring pressure.

 

“We can leave. I know how you feel about this stuff.” Yuugi is all empathy and kindness. Gentle and sweet. Thoughtful. _Trusting_.

 

That’s where the trouble comes from. Well that and the copious amount of black leather and silver buckles. The collar. The fucking _collar_.

 

“What stuff? The booze? Nah, don’t worry about it. What’re they makin’ you?” Jounouchi leans his elbow against the blue glass bar, careful to angle himself towards Yuugi just enough. Yuugi has to lean up towards him to be heard. It looks intimate. Private.

 

“I like to ask for the bartender's favorite,” Yuugi answers with a shrug, his curly blonde hair bouncing in front of his eyes, “It’s always a surprise that way.”

 

A nod is all Jounouchi can think to respond with before he turns to watch the bartender work. Looks relatively harmless. Nothing too exotic or potent.

 

“Say, is this the place you met-”

 

“Yup.”

 

Yup. So that was it. Somehow Jounouchi had known, intuition maybe, that there was more to this than ‘kaiba’s driving me crazy at work and I wanna get tipsy’. Only problem with this development is where the hell does Jounouchi fit in? He hates bars and drunks and strangers pawing at Yuugi and-

 

_What the fuck?_

 

“Don’t tell me you’re looking to, ya know-”

 

“No... I mean, not really...” Yuugi picks up his drink and swirls the liquid around briefly before taking a generous gulp.

 

“Yuugi-”

 

At the sound of his name Yuugi fixes his eyes on Jounouchi and it feels all at once like a flash of police lights and an unexpected blackout. It’s dizzying. The chains on Yuugi’s small ears jingle even after he’s gone still.

 

“Jou-kun,” Yuugi replies with a small smile. Light, flirtatious. A confusing contrast to his expression. His intent. It’s not something Jounouchi can put into words but he can feel what Yuugi is after. Playing wingman to the King of Games is getting a little old.

 

“Jesus- every time with the eyes, Yuugi. You owe me for this. You got any idea how tired I am? New fucker in charge hates union reps more than the last guy if you can believe that. I got seven-”

 

“Jou-kun,” Yuugi’s giggling, his drink half gone and his wild ponytail bobbing back and forth with his shaking head, “you can’t talk about work! The rules, remember? I actually wanted to ask how you were getting along with-”

 

“ _No_ _way_. Nu-uh. I don’t wanna hear either of those lunatics names, got that? Not once. They qualify as work as far as I’m concerned.”

 

This throws Yuugi into a fit of laughter so contagious even Jounouchi cracks a smile. It doesn’t last long though once he catches the eye of a lean, dark, predatory figure amongst the tight crowd. He glances back toward Yuugi. Takes in how his arms look wrapped in black mesh, how the soft curve of his hip sticks out from the top of his skin tight pants. How his eyes have just the faintest hint of red, traces of this mornings swelling.

 

Maybe if Jounouchi puts his hand on Yuugi’s neck, gentle and familiar (and Yuugi leans into the touch like he knows he will) the bastard will back off. Jounouchi’s willing to risk being the absolute worst wingman on the planet if it means sparing Yuugi another regrettable one night stand.

 

* * *

 

“Mmm… feels nice…” Yuugi’s probably on his third drink and the two of them are still stuck to the damn bar. Jounouchi’s hand still rests firmly at the joint of Yuugi’s shoulder and neck but he can’t exactly remember when his thumb started dipping small circles under the thick leather of Yuugi’s fucking collar.

 

Jounouchi probably makes some noncommittal noise in response but it’s lost in the obnoxious swell of music and overlapping conversations. So far there hasn't been a single guy that Jounouchi thinks he can trust enough to leave Yuugi with.

 

“So… Find me a good one yet?” Yuugi chirps from the rim of his new glass, lips curled coyly, voice a little slurred but ever patient and knowing. Jounouchi has the decency to duck his head at being caught so easily.

 

“ _No_. They’re all sleezy gangsters. Cause guess what, Yuugi? This fuckin’ place is a _sleezy gangster dive_. I gotta be honest here- the thought of any one of these creeps taking you home makes me _sick_. Jesus- I think I _know_ that fucker, he’s still with Hirutani for shits sake!” Jounouchi pulls his hand away from Yuugi’s neck and runs it through his shaggy hair. He’s suddenly hyper aware of how empty his stomach is and how anxious the caffeine from his one pathetic coke is making him and how he can literally feel the eyes of half a dozen guys on Yuugi’s ass, his narrow shoulders, his _fucking_ _collar_ -

 

“You know Jounouchi…” Yuugi beckons his best friend to his level with a crooked finger. The noise is so overwhelming that Jounouchi doesn’t think anything of it- that is until Yuugi’s mouth is right next to his ear panting fast, hot breaths against it while short but nimble fingers hook the front belt loops of his old jeans and force him closer, “If it bothers you so much you could take me home instead.”

 

Just like that the floor is gone and Jounouchi can feel every one of the drinks Yuugi had in his own empty stomach. His heart's beating wild in his chest, in his ears, in his-

 

But he’s _not_ _drunk_. He’s painfully sober. He can control this- fix it. He can maintain one fucking friendship without it getting weirdly sexual for jesus christ’s _fucking sake-_

 

“Yuugi- _Yuugi_ -” It probably sounds like he’s pleading which given the circumstances could easily be misleading and might even explain why Yuugi only pulls Jounouchi closer in between his legs and starts nipping and kissing the line of his jaw.

 

If Jounouchi hadn’t already gone so long without it would be easier to yank Yuugi away and stop this but his mouth is hot and wet and sweet and he manages to make it feel like so much more than it really is. Jounouchi rests his hands on Yuugi’s hips, slippery and cool where leather meets metal meets skin.

 

“We can’t do this, Yuugi. You don’t wanna do this,” Jounouchi says lamely, his words falling utterly flat. He means it (probably, mostly) but Yuugi displays his indifference with a leisurely roll of his hips against Jounouchi’s thigh. A soft, wavering moan follows shortly after.

 

“We’re both adults, Jou-kun. Besides- you know I love you,” Yuugi pulls away from the spot on Jounouchi’s neck he’d started on and briefly touches their lips together. It’s strangely formal considering their current predicament.

 

“Yuugi, you just kissed me like you’d kiss your old lady,” Sure, Jou. Push his buttons. That’s obviously the right thing to do, “I mean there’s love and there’s _love_ -”

 

Yuugi splits back off into peels of laughter, taking Jounouchi’s chin between two fingers and kissing his bottom lip, “Oh, Jou-kun… To think I’d be hearing that from _you_ of all people. The line is pretty blurry, wouldn’t you agree?”

 

For a moment they’re both silent. What is there to say? This is hardly the time or place to have an in depth discussion about Jounouchi’s complete inability to separate rivalry from friendship from romance from sex. Bodies move around them, music blares, glasses clink together, people shout and laugh. So when Yuugi strokes Jounouchi’s chin with his thumb, eyes serious if not a little glassy, it’s almost like someone else is speaking through him.

 

“Our hearts are complicated, Katsuya. We can go a lifetime without knowing them. We can know them in a second. It’s a room that changes every time we close the door. Once someone has lived there with you… You can never go back to being alone. _Katsuya_. Our hearts are complicated.”

 

Before he can think or reply or take a breath his hand shoots up on instinct from Yuugi’s waist to brush the tear away from his pink cheek. He tucks a stray hair from Yuugi’s forehead behind his ear and closes his eyes as their lips come gently together again. Maybe it’s fucked up of him but he’s always been weak to Yuugi’s charm, his needs and seeing him so raw and sad and lonely- it _is_ fucked up of him.

 

Sweet and plump as Yuugi’s bottom lip is between his teeth he can’t let this escalate. He can’t.

 

“Yuugi,” Jounouchi places a quick kiss on that glossy lip and rests their foreheads together, one deep breath after another. It makes him shake when he realizes Yuugi’s thigh is gripped tightly in his hand, knee practically hooked behind his back. Yuugi’s breathes are laced with tense whimpers and even as Jounouchi takes stock of the situation Yuugi’s trying his best to twist and grind against him.

 

“… Please, call me ‘Aibou’...” Yuugi’s voice catches somewhere between a sigh and a sob and a moan and he slurs on top of that. When Jounouchi actually _looks_ at him his stomach, his heart, his feet- it all turns to lead. He did this. He let this happen.

 

“ _Yuugi_ …” Jounouchi whispers it against his cheek, quiet and as much like himself as he can sound. With little resistance he sets Yuugi’s leg down and takes a step back, “Yuugi. We’re gonna go home. I’m gonna take care of you.”

 

The tab is expensive as hell and Jounouchi vows never to step foot in that shit hole again. He walks the route that circumvents his construction site even though it’s longer because Yuugi is light and warm curled up on his back, arms loose around his neck. They probably look ridiculous and in the back of his mind Jounouchi prays that Kaiba isn’t out on one of his insomnia walks but wouldn’t that just be his goddamn luck anyway.

 

Yuugi’s words echo in his ears, fill his head and body until he loses track of the sidewalk. Again and again and again.

 

_Our hearts are complicated, Katsuya. Katsuya. Our hearts are complicated._

 

Yes, there’s no denying that but what he managed to leave out was greedy and fickle and selfish and scared. Complicated is such a clean word, such a _Yuugi_ word. Vague and mysterious but still somehow clean. Manageable. Even in the face of desperate loneliness and maddening solitude Yuugi could pick the word ‘complicated’ out of thin air. A magic trick. A slight of hand.

 

Jounouchi thinks of the Other Yuugi, the Pharaoh or whoever, and wonders how bad he would have gotten his ass kicked for letting it get as far as it had tonight. How misshapen and brutalized the other men that Yuugi has used would be if the Spirit knew how they tore at his tight clothes and pulled on his _fucking collar_.

 

The trick the challenge the _responsibility_ that Jounouchi faces in the months ahead is to convince the most important person in his life that a wound (that’s what it is) can’t heal right (can’t heal at all) if you keep digging knives and fingers and shards of glass into it. It’s been years already. How many more would it take for Yuugi to feel whole in himself again (had he ever)...?

  
Jounouchi stops in the street to gently adjust Yuugi before taking back off into the night, cursing fate and destiny and every other uncontrollable, cruel thing he can think of because what else is there to do?

**Author's Note:**

> i don't usually do notes but this is kinda experimental so maybe i should say something? 
> 
> sorry if the use of '-kun' and 'aibou' seem lame i just felt like i needed to keep them? it would be weird for yuugi to just call him jou... and i really love the way aibou sounds 'partner' just isn't the same im so sorry im very lame om gg
> 
> i see jou doing steady practical work (i chose construction for this) and yuugi teaming up with kaiba in the gaming industry... i don't really ship yuugi and jou but i thought it might be an interesting way for both of them to have to face their problems- yuugi unable to move on from the home he found with the spirit and jounouchi establishing boundaries for himself in pretty much every aspect of his life.... UM. yeah sorry for this bYE


End file.
